Key Takeaways
- The digital SAT features four sections with 98 out of 147 questions used, impacting how students should prepare
- Understand how SAT questions are crafted to test various skills in Math and Reading and Writing, enhancing your tutoring strategies
- Learn how the digital SAT adapts question difficulty based on performance, crucial for effective test-taking strategies
It's no secret that SAT scores are determined before the test day. Their test prep, the SAT practice tests they attempt, and their test-taking strategies impact a student's performance on test day.
As an SAT tutor, you know that behind successful coaching lies an essential requirement: understanding the test. To prepare to help your students excel at the SAT, you must fully understand how the SAT is designed.
Here, we’ll discuss what goes into SAT question building, its design, structure, adaptive nature, patterns, difficulty levels, and more.
Digital SAT Structure
The digital SAT has 98 questions to be answered in 2 hours 14 minutes. There are two sections in the digital SAT. The first section is the Reading and Writing section. It has 54 questions to be answered in 64 minutes. The second section is the Math section which has 44 questions with a time-limit of 70 minutes.
Each section is made of two equal-sized sub-sections, called modules. Thus, each module of the Reading and Writing section has 27 questions and 32 minutes, while each module of the Math section has 22 questions and 35 minutes.
There is an official break of 10 minutes between the two sections.
Note:
In each section, there will be 2 experimental questions. The College Board uses these questions to understand how students respond to them and whether they may be used in the future. They do not count towards your scores.
However, there’s no way of knowing which questions are experimental. So don’t waste your time trying to identify if a question is experimental. Instead, just try to do your best on each question and move on.
Layout of the digital SAT
What would the digital SAT look like on the screen of a device? How does the design fit in the passages, questions, answer choices, tools, and other buttons on a single screen? Where should you click to activate the inbuilt calculator?
Answering questions like this and understanding the layout of the digital SAT will make you feel confident while taking the test. After all, when you know your way around, the journey becomes easier, right?
A few things remain the same, irrespective of the section or type of question.
- The screen will display one question at a time.
- Navigation buttons like ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ will be at the bottom of the screen.
- For multiple choice questions, the answer choices will always appear on the right side of your screen.
- The Annotator tool is available any time you want to highlight a part of a passage or the question.
Reading and Writing section
The screen is split into parts - you may drag and resize the divider if wish. On your left, you’ll see the passage; on your right you’ll see the question referring to that passage. The answer choices will be right below the question.
The Reading questions always appear before the Writing questions.
Remember, each question refers to a different passage.
Tools available
- Annotator tool
- Flag
The Math section
Roughly, three out of every four questions in the math section are multiple-choice questions. The answer choices appear right below the question.
For the student-produced response questions, you’ll see the instructions on your left and the question on your right. Below the question will be the text box in which to enter your answer.
There is no particular order in which the topics appear. So your first question could be from linear equations, while the first question your friend Roy gets might be from trigonometry.
However, the math questions appear in increasing order of difficulty. So it’s ok to sail through the early questions but feel a bit overwhelmed by the last few.
Tools available
- Calculator
- Reference sheet with formulas
Official SAT questions: Domain and skills
According to CollegeBoard, over 4,000 colleges and universities in the US alone accept SAT scores as one of their admissions criteria. Internationally, over 85 countries consider SAT scores when making admission-related decisions.
Naturally, a lot of thinking goes into designing an SAT.
The SATs a student’s language and mathematical skills. Within both these areas, certain domains are assessed.
Look at the screenshot below. Under the math modules, the official test assesses the student’s competence in algebra, advanced math, geometry and trigonometry, and more.
Within each domain, the student would find questions that evaluate different skills. For instance, a student could see questions on right triangles, trigonometry, circles, and so on under geometry and trigonometry.
The reading and writing modules assess and test students' ability to understand information and ideas, express ideas, use standard English conventions (screenshot below), and more. The modules assess and test different skills in each domain.
Look at the screenshot below from the official CollegeBoard Educator website. Although all four questions are related to geometry, they test different skills and are of different levels of difficulty.
The first question with ID f7dbde16 is of a High difficulty level. It tests the student’s competence for lines, angles, and triangles. Against that, the next question with ID b0c5ece5 is a Low difficulty level and tests the skills of right triangles and trigonometry.
You'll see something similar in the reading and writing section: different domains, skills, and difficulty levels.
Adaptive nature of the digital SAT
The new digital SAT is unique because it is adaptive in nature. That means the test will adjust or adapt its module according to the student’s performance.
The below diagram summarizes how the adaptive SAT works.
The test's adaptive nature provides a more accurate evaluation of the student’s skills and knowledge and delivers a personalized experience.
What this means for the student:
Let's compare the experiences of two students, Debbie and Yuri. Debbie didn’t do well in Module 1, so her Module 2 was easier. She will end up with a relatively low score.
Against that, Yuri did quite well in Module 1, so he was served a more difficult Module 2. He will get a relatively high score, even if he got the same number of questions correct as Debbie in Module 2.
What this means for the test administration:
Before the student sits for the SAT, the testing app has no idea whether the student will need an easier Module 2 or a more difficult one. Put differently, the test doesn’t know if the student will perform like Debbie or Yuri.
So the test must keep both the problematic and easier modules ready.
As you can see from the figure below, the test needs to keep a total of 147 questions ready. This is even though the student will see no more than 98 questions.
Accurate practice tests for the SAT
The SAT practice tests a student attempts during their test prep journey contribute significantly to what SAT score they receive.
There are thousands of SAT practice questions on the internet. So how difficult can it be to pick up a few questions from these free resources and ‘create a practice SAT’?
It’s a lot more complex than you can imagine.
Giving your students a bit of practice on a few questions is one thing; putting together a set of questions to make a full-length practice test that accurately resembles the SAT is quite another.
To fully understand why, you’ll need to return just a bit.
Mock SAT Math questions
First, let’s look at the math section. The table below compares 5 questions from an actual SAT with 5 questions from a mock SAT designed by an inexperienced tutor.
The highlighted parts quickly tell you what's wrong with the mock practice SAT:
- The SAT math is unlikely to have four consecutive questions from the same domain. The mock SAT here, in contrast, has four consecutive questions from the same domain (Algebra).
- An analysis of the actual SAT will tell you that the early math questions are either 'Easy' or 'Medium'. This difficulty level changes gradually from 'Easy' to 'Medium' and then to 'Hard'. Unlike that, the mock SAT fluctuates between 'Easy', 'Hard', and 'Medium' without a clear logic.
Mock SAT Reading and Writing questions
The Reading and Writing module in a practice mock SAT can also have similar errors. Check the table below:
Here, too, the highlighted parts tell you why this mock SAT isn't reliable:
- The SAT typically has consecutive questions from the same domain ('Information and Ideas', in this example). You'll notice no such arrangement in the mock SAT, where the domains keep varying.
- The difficulty level of the actual SAT always progresses from 'Easy' to 'Medium' and then to 'Hard'. The mock SAT, as you can see, failed to maintain that. As a result, it goes from 'Medium' to 'Hard' to 'Easy' to 'Hard', which doesn't have a pattern.
Creating mock SATs that are truly reliable
Now you see: An accurate practice test needs to remain faithful to the official digital SAT, not just for one or two questions, but for all the 147 questions.
In the Reading and Writing module, for instance, you need to:
- maintain the consistency of the domains you test, and
- ensure that the difficulty levels don't change at random.
Even if you get just a few questions wrong regarding skills, difficulty level or domain, the SAT practice test will be faulty.
Remember, these observations are only from the Baseline sections; the Adaptive-Easy or Adaptive-Hard sections will need to follow such details even more closely.
This is why you should carefully choose your digital SAT prep test partner.
Best practices to take online digital SAT practice test
Having a great online digital SAT practice that accurately simulates the real SAT is great. However, you can derive the full advantage of such tests only if you bring a certain sense of discipline.
Here are the five best practices you want to follow when you practice with mock SATs
1. Begin well ahead
It’s never too early to take a practice SAT. Even if you’re just starting out your SAT prep, go ahead and take a practice test. It will tell you not only where you stand today but also what you need to work on.
2. Go for the genuine ones
If your mock SAT isn’t using high-quality questions that resemble the ones found on an actual SAT, you’re probably not going to get much out of the test. Always opt for a mock SAT that simulates the real one as closely as possible. Here’s a blog that explains how we created the best practice SATs.
3. Learn from the mistakes
It’s great to celebrate your wins, but to improve your SAT score you need to spend a lot on your mistakes. Separate out the questions that you couldn’t get right and work on each of them individually. That ensures you won’t repeat your mistakes.
4. Simulate the test environment
When taking a mock SAT, try to recreate the actual test scenario as accurately as possible. For instance, finish each section without taking a break. Between the two sections, take a break of 10 minutes, and no more.
Do not cheat while taking the mock SAT. Keep away from distractions; put your smartphone on silent mode and disable all notifications.
5. Make it count
Attempt every practice test as if that’s an actual SAT and your college admissions depend on that one test. Take it with utmost seriousness, fight for every single question, use every single minute.
Offering the SAT practice test online: A few questions
What is the most realistic SAT practice test?
At Edison, we have prepared a practice test that's the most realistic SAT for practice ever. It matches domain, skills, question distribution, and difficulty levels for each question for the entire test. You can check out this blog to learn how we did it.
Are there free digital SAT practice tests?
Yes, we offer a free digital SAT practice test. You can take it here.
Is digital SAT easier than paper SAT?
There is no evidence that the digital version of the SAT is easier or more complex than the paper-based test. Besides, the College Board is focused on the best way to determine a student's skills, so they won't ever compromise their evaluation standards.
In any case, the digital SAT is replacing the paper version. Hence, this question is of little relevance now.
The importance of digital SAT practice tests
As a tutor, you aim to help more students get the best SAT scores possible.
But how do you reach more students?
Offer free practice tests for SAT:
- Invite potential SAT takers to attempt a free digital SAT practice test.
- Discuss their performance and point out the areas they need to work on.
- Help them with a digital SAT prep plan and show where you can help them.
Sell the practice SATs:
- Price the tests individually or in a set.
- Create plans for detailed in-person explanations of the tests.
- Build a value-added offer where you bundle coaching with the tests.
With its unbeatable, highly accurate mock SATs built just like the real test, Edison can be a great partner for you.
Why take a demo of how EdisonOS can help you sell your white-labelled tests?
.png)
